Sword Art Online Rebooted
by Alex of the End
Summary: Just like Kirito, Asuna, Klein, Liz, Agil, Silica, and all of the SAO gamers, Arun finds himself trapped in the death game of Sword Art Online, and now he is on his own journey of heroics in Aincrad. Because believe it or not Kirito isn't the only player who made an impact on whether those 6000 survivors made it out alive or not.
1. Chapter 1

SAO: Rebooted

"Link start!" I shouted with my nerve gear placed tightly on my head, is saw a rainbow of colors rush past my face, and soon felt unable to move my real body. The login screen popped up along with a keyboard, I moved my fingers to click the keys but my fingers didn't move, however the nerve gear knew what I was doing. I logged in with my username: Arun, and my password *******. The screen went black for a few moments. I lay in in a mix of excitement and anticipation; of what was to come, I did not have the luxury of playing the beta of this game but now that I had it I was certain I would figure it out like it was second nature.

I opened my eyes as I materialized in a large square, a message popped up in the menu welcoming me to Sword Art Online, and the town of beginnings. I looked around and saw players everywhere, many of them materializing just like I did. I knew what I was going to do first, I opened my menu with the swipe of my hand, and opened my character page, I was level 1, and I had 55 HP. The only equipment I had was a full set of "Trainee" armor, and a "basic iron dagger" the armor was a basic black shirt with a leather chest piece over it, and light brown boots and pants. I was using the character I had imported from another game from the makers of Sword Art; my character was around five feet 9 inches with spikey dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes. The next thing I did was locate the Town of Beginnings map and found some weapon shops. Col was this games currency and I had started with 500, which I was sure was enough for a decent sword to start with.

It had taken me about 20 or so minutes just to move through the town of beginnings, there were so many people walking around everywhere, I had to fight every step of the way moving people aside trying to squeeze through crowds and such. When I finally arrived at the bazaar street all I saw was total chaos, people trying to push their way through the crowds and every shop stall had lines of around 30 or so players, The sword stall had almost double that. The best sword there that I could afford was 400 Col; I guess it was pretty noticeable how I was eyeing the sword because I was approached by a boy.

"Looks like your itching to get your hands on that sword huh?" the boy asked, he was a head shorter than me, and he had blue eyes and long light orange hair, wearing the same armor as me except his shirt was yellow, and his boots and pants were black. He stood waiting for me to respond.

"Uhh yeah," I started looking back at the basic short sword and then back to the boy, "I want to start grinding for experience as soon as I get some better gear but this line is so long it'll take forever." The boy smiled like I had said some magic words.

"I could help you with that" the boy said opening his menu, "I have that same sword, and I'd be willing to part with it if you're willing to part with some extra Col." This caught my attention, I was eager to start my grinding and learn the combat system.

"How much extra?" I asked carefully since I only had 500 Col to start with anyway. The boy sent me a trade request.

"Since you've just started that means you only have 500, so I'll take all of that," the boy said raising his arms to stretch, "or you could just wait an hour to get it for 100 less". I knew I was being played into paying more money than the sword was worth, but I did not want to have to wait an hour just to buy a sword.

"Deal," I said accepting his request, a menu popped up with slots to place items in and a text box to input money amounts. There was a side on the menu for each of us, each side had our names above it, and his name was Kleff. A sword icon appeared on Kleff's side of the trade box with some text next to it, "Guards short sword" was the weapons name, I used the virtual key board to type 500 in the Col transfer box, once both sides had the agreed items to trade we both accepted the trade, and I lost 500 Col but gained a one-handed sword.

"Pleasure doin' business with you Arun," the boy commented as he walked away. I said nothing in return, I simply watched as he disappeared into the crowd of players. I opened my menu found the "Guard's short sword" and equipped the weapon to my back, I then opened my map and found the nearest exit of the city.

I took my first steps into the field and a message popped up, the message notified me that I was leaving the Town of beginning's safe zone and that I was now vulnerable to take damage from AI enemies, and other players. I could contain my excitement no longer and I just started to run, I didn't stop until I couldn't see any other players around me. I was in a hill environment, it was grassy and the only enemies here were boars, and the occasional green slime. I heard some growling from behind me, I turned to see a boar; he was stomping around and growling at me as if to warn me to back off. "You wanna' go?" I asked as if the beast could answer me, it responded with more thumping and growling. "Alright, let's go," I said as I drew my sword and the boar charged me, I lifted my sword ready to strike, I rolled to the side just in time to slash up and the pig, I could see a strange red cut mark, but it didn't look like I wounded a creature, it looked as though I had wounded a programing. The beast turned back to me, and its originally blue eyes turned red, it charged at me the same way it did before except this time it was much faster. I attempted to attack the same way I did before but it was too fast and its horn tore into my lower left side. I didn't feel pain, it was more like a minor shock, it hurt just not nearly as much as a gash that size should have. The boar turned to attack again but this time I was ready, I pointed the tip of my blade at the boar and it began to glow blue, the monster attacked, and I met it head on driving my sword deep into its skull, the creature blurred for a second before exploding into glass like shards that disappeared moments later.

"AHH!" I heard someone scream from close by, I turned to see to guys in the distance one was watching the other, the other guy was on the ground. The one standing and watching had long black hair, and the one on the ground had red hair, and was holding his crotch in pain. I just chuckled at the sight and started to walk away since one level one boar isn't much of a threat, even with the hit I took, I still had 50 HP left.

"Congratulations you have reached level 4" said the message on my screen, I had been grinding for a few hours but the first fields on this floor only spawned low level enemies that gave little experience. On the bright side I made 1400 Col in the time so I was just about ready to go and buy some new better armor. I was going to make a little more experience before I return to the Town of Beginnings. The sun was ready to set soon, it was 5'oclock pm and I was almost ready to log off for the night. I continued to walk in the fields stopping from time to time to take in the breath taking view, taking in all that the world of Aincrad had to offer. I saw something that peeked my interest in one of those moments, I could only faintly see it in the distance, but it was a slime, not a normal green slime, but a slightly bigger blue one. _Maybe a mini boss?_ I thought to myself as I drew my blade. It felt lighter now that I've used it so much; it felt not like a weapon, but as a part of me. _Do I really want to take that thing on if it is? _I thought to myself as I got closer to it, I couldn't see its stats because my enemy assessment skill wasn't high enough. All I could see was its health bar, not the actual number of its HP, just the bar itself. _What the hell, not like ill actually die if I lose to it_, my new opponent turned to me and started at me with a cold blank stare; a message popped up on my screen "Event started: Slime Mother".

"Slime Mother? Please don't tell me that means," As if on cue to answer my question, the blue slime shot balls of slime around me that rose and turned into enemies. They weren't strong, they were level 1 "newborn slimes" and they only had 6 HP each, but they had surrounded me. They all leapt at me at once, they were high jumpers which gave me the opportunity to slide under them and slice up. I killed one with one hit this way, and I didn't even have to use a sword skill. They attacked one after another, and one after another I cut them down, but they didn't stop coming. I soon realized that every time I killed one the mother slime just spawned one more to replace it, there was constantly 7 newborns attacking at all times. "Fine ill just kill you first!" I shouted as I activated a sword skill and slashed and the Mother as I rushed past her. I looked back and saw that I had only done a tiny fraction of the mother's health, it didn't even go into the yellow zone, and to top it off to of the newborns leapt, and fused with their mother completely healing her. She could just continue to spawn more slimes to wear me out, and every time I attacked her she would just heal herself with her infinite supply of slimes.

Without me noticing I was surrounded again, the slimes continued to draw closer and close until they all pounces me gain. I though fast and activated another sword skill, this time my blade glowed a shade of crimson and with all of the strength I could summon up from my character I spun with my blade out slicing each of them in half, and without thinking I charge the mother again. I went berserk, slashing again and again until she was in the yellow zone. The slime had had enough, I thrust my sword into the monster only to have her suck it in. and with a tentacle like arm that appeared from her back, she impaled me and sent my flying like I was nothing. I felt actual pain, I had only 15 HP after that attack, and I had a bleeding effect that was taking 2 HP from me every second. I though fast and used the freebee potion that I had gotten because I had bought a hard copy of the game. It healed all negative status effects, and I had taken it just in time too, because I only had 3 HP left. _Now or never! _I mentally shouted to myself, I stood up and with the last bit of courage I could muster I charged the mother before her little minions could fully heal her. I had jumped inside of her, I was surrounded by the blue slime. And in one final act of defiance to the boss that was meant to be unbeatable by one player I grabbed my sword activated my sword skill which the sword turned red and against the density of the slime I was engulfed in, preformed the spin attack. Making the boss loose the last of its health and explode into glass like shards.

A screen followed notifying me that I had reached level 6. _Wait level 6? Didn't I just turn level 4 before? _I questioned, and last was the loot I had obtained. "Hardened mother slime armor" I had put it on right away, it was like blue plate armor, that was a pure see through blue that showed my black shirt underneath. It also had a built in shield like armor on the left arm. _I wonder how good it is. _I pondered forgetting that I could just check the stats. I equipped my starting dagger held it to my chest and plunged it at myself. It snapped on my armor like it was a twig, even though I never used the dagger, its durability couldn't hold its own against my new armor. _That's OP as shit. _I thought to myself as I watched the dagger hilt disappear in a similar animation as an enemy dying.

I felt a strange tingle in my body, almost like a chill in my bones before I suddenly found myself in the square at the Town of Beginnings. More and more people kept appearing the same way I had until the entire giant square was completely packed with people. "Look!" I heard someone shout and all at once everyone looked at one spot in the sky, I looked where they were, and I couldn't believe that what happened next was real.

The sky was bleeding; it was dripping red until it formed a somewhat oval shape in the sky. The ball continued to morph until it took that shape of a hooded man, a hooded man whose face was completely shadowed out by his hood. "Attention players, I welcome you, to my world," the man said. I could feel some eyes on me as well because of me being the only one who didn't have some of the basic floor one armor. "My name is Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment I am in control of this world," He said, I didn't know what to think at first. People in the crowd were muttering silently, trying to figure out what he was trying to say. "I'm sure that most of you have noticed that there is an item missing from your main menus," he continued, "the log out button, let me assure you this is not a defect in the game. I repeat this is not a defect, this is how Sword Art Online was designed to be." At this point people were already starting to silently panic in the crowd while others tried to calm them down so we could hear the rest of what Kayaba was trying to say. "You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the nervegear from your head," continued, at this point I was legitimately afraid, I opened my menu to see he was not lying, and that there truly was no log out button. "If anyone attempts to do so a transmitter inside the nervegear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain, and ending your life," I could not believe what I was hearing, I was hoping to god that this was some sort of sick effed up joke. Kayaba continued "Despite my warning the families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the nervegear. An unfortunate decision to say the least." At this point I was actually believing what he had to say and I thought of that fight with the Slime mother, and how I nearly died, and if I did would I have been allowed to go back home. "As a result the game now has 213 less players than when it began they've been deleted from both Aincrad, and the real world," kayaba said as he continued this announcement, "As you can see international media outlets have round the clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. "At this point its safe to assume the likelihood of the nervegear being removed is minimal at best." I felt anger, actual anger swell in me as I tried to convince myself that this couldn't be real. "I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important to remember the following, it is no longer possible to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero your avatar will be deleted from the system, forever." People were looking around frantically trying to figure out if this was real or not, "And the nervegear will simultaneously destroy your brain." When Kayaba said this my mind again went to the battle with the slime mother, and how I was so reckless because I thought t wouldn't affect me in the real world, I was wrong. "There's only one way for a player to escape now, you must clear the game. Right now you're gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Aincrad, if you can get through the dungeon, and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor 100, and you will clear the game." People were frantic; the crowd was going to turn into chaos soon if nothing was done.

"last but not least, I placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please, have a look." Kayaba said, and as if rehearsed everyone took out the item. It was a small hand mirror, I looked down at my fake face and not soon after I found myself surrounded by a blue light. When it had subsided I saw that everyone was going through the same thing, and everyone's appearance was changing. When I looked down at the mirror again, I didn't see my avatars face, I saw my own face, my own Hazel eyes, my own short combed dirty blond hair. "Right now, you're probably wondering why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online, and nervegear do this to us?" Kayaba said, which is what I was thinking at this point "ultimately my goal was a simple one, the reason I created Sword Art Online, was to control the fate of a world of my design. As you can see I have achieved my goal." I didn't know what to do, what to think my mind was shutting down from the shock. "This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck." And slowly he disappeared in a blur, and the sky returned to its normal state. I wasted no time I ran, I ran out of the square and made for the fields, I was already over level for floor one, but I couldn't die here I couldn't let myself lose at Kayaba's game.

A little more than three months had passed since Kayaba revealed that this game, Sword Art Online, was a death trap. We reached floor 5 already but we've lost a little under twenty-five hundred players since this game started 213 of those players didn't even have the chance because their friends or family tried to take their nervegear off. "Hey I got the sword," Kleff said as he entered the tavern I was in and walked to my table. He sent me a trade invite and sat down across from me. Kleff and I partied up when we fought Ill Fang, the floor one boss, ever since we have been a two person team. Kleff was by far the best merchant I knew, and a contender for the best player merchant in the game, he made screwing people out of their Col look like it was a fine art.

"Good," I said as he gave me the sword and some of my money he didn't spend on it. I equipped it to my side and unsheathed it, it was a sabre made of a white speed raising metal, and it had a gold hand guard with a leather grip on the handle.

"Ya know I could have talked him into trading some awesome armor for that chest piece of yours," Kleff said with a sigh as he put his feet on the table. He wasn't wrong for wanting to trade my chest piece, it was rare but we started seeing better creatable armor since floor 4, but none of the armors so far offered my built in arm shield that allowed me to use it like a shield without sacrificing mobility.

"Yeah but none of the defense boosts are worth losing the shield arm," I said getting up from the table; Kleff followed me into the streets.

"Yeah because that's so great," Kleff deadpanned, this made me somewhat mad. We continued down the street to the city gate.

"So, I guess we're going dungeon clearing then?" Kleff asked as we made our way through the crowds of mingling player, to be honest it was kind of refreshing to see people making the best of a bad situation, it gave me hope.

"How else am I supposed to test out this new sword?" I rhetorically asked as we continued. We were almost at the town gate when I spotted a familiar black coat in the distance. "Hey, Kirito!" I shouted as I changed course to his direction. Kirito turned and waved to me and Kleff as we got closer. Kirito, Kleff, and I had been in a party when we fought the boss on floor one, there was another girl too but I never got her name. "Hey man, how's it goin'? We haven't seen you since the floor four boss fight last week." I said when we were close, Kirito was wearing a black coat, black shirt with a gold plate protecting his upper chest, and black pants, all that to match his black hair.

"Fine, and yeah it's been a while, were you going to go dungeon clearing?" he asked as he and I low fived.

"Yeah, you want to come?" I asked opening my menu and sending him a party invite. He stood quiet for a moment, as if weighing his options.

"I'm up for it," he started in a questionable tone, "but I've already been in there today, and I was going to rest up for a bit." I took notice that he didn't deny the invite so there was still a chance I could convince him to tag along.

"Are you sure? The liberation Army is offering a 15,000 Col reward for the first person to complete the dungeons map, and we are really close," I pleaded trying to appeal to the greed that according to Kleff, was in everyone if you dig deep enough, "split that three ways and we all pocket 5000 Col."

"Hmm I could use the money…" he paused a moment before accepting the invite.

"There we go," I said happily. Kirito may not have looked like it but he was the strongest player I've ever seen, even I would have trouble beating him, if I could beat him, and all I do in this game is fight.

"Sweet, I can already taste the money," Kleff said before licking his lips humorously, this getting me and Kirito to laugh at his greed. "I was being serious," Kleff huffed, making us laugh even more.

"We know, we find it funny how much of a money grubber you are," I said after our laughter was discontinued. "Now, let's clear us a dungeon!" I shouted enthusiastically raising a fist in the air.

"Yeah!" shouted Kirito and Kleff simultaneously making the three of us laugh for a bit more. It was good that I had friends like them, because in this world, the only things we can enjoy are the little things.


	2. Chapter 2

I plunged my saber into a zombie's chest and watched it dissipate in front of me. "I hate the undead," I said as I sheathed my gleaming sword securely at my hip. We had been in the floor 5 dungeon for about an hour now, and we had made little progress, whether we hit a dead end, or we were halted by the undead, we found it hard to make any progress. The floor 5 dungeon was the first one we've seen that was outside, it was a maze, and the walls were blackened and leafless tree, and all the enemies we faced were undead themed. No matter where we went there was a fog about that made it a difficult to see our way.

"Just a little more, there's only one more path for us to take," Kirito said examining his map closely.

"That's if the paths don't split again," Kleff muttered from behind us. Kleff preferred to stay in behind us, he didn't care much for combat, but he was still very good at it, you could say he role played a thief in a fight, while Kirito and I focused on our strength and speed, Kleff focused on getting the advantage. He never took on an enemy head on, always from the side or the back, unless we were using the switch tactic so many players were fond of. The switch tactic was a popular fighting technique that required two players, one player would parry an enemy's attack, and the other would "switch" or jump in and attack while the foes guard was down.

"Look," I said turning back to the two, "let's just follow the path and if it splits again we'll get out of here, deal?"

"Sounds good, I'm looking forward to some sleep," Kirito said with a yawn. I had forgotten he had already been in here, and was probably tired from fighting through the same dungeon twice.

"Yeah," Kleff agreed, "Let's just hope we don't run into any of those army assholes."

"Let's just hope you didn't jinx us," I said with a chuckle, but the others didn't seem to find it very funny. The "Liberation Army", as they liked to call themselves was a guild that started soon after we cleared the second floor. They had soul control over the Town of beginnings, and they have been trying to take over the other cleared floors ever since we've been clearing them, but with little room to spread, out the other guilds had kept them limited to the first and second floors. We kept walking for about ten minute when I heard the faint clashing of metal in the distance down the path.

"Hey so you guys hear that?" I asked looking back at Kirito and Kleff who seemed to be trying to make out the sounds.

"Yeah, sounds like one hell of a brawl," Kleff said, "Maybe we shouldn't get involved." I just glared at him; the Idea of running from someone who may be in need was completely absurd to me, because I knew if I was in need I would want someone to help me. "I was just sayin',"Kleff huffed.

"Let's go," I said as I removed my sword form its scabbard and rushed towards the sounds of battle.

"Right," Kirito said as he followed close behind. Kleff hesitated for a moment before making up his mind.

"Ugh, the things you drag me into," he said trailing a little bit behind us. We soon came upon a mess, 6 people, all in matching green metal armor. They were surrounded by zombie like creatures with claws the size of my upper body. The players were from the army, I could tell by their armor.

"Why are there so many!?" I asked noticing that the largest group of enemies I've ever run into at a time was 4, and they were being boxed in by at least a dozen.

"Look at your screen," Kirito said as he drew his own sword from his back. At the top right of my vision screen was a message saying "Event started: undead ambush". I looked around to see another dozen undead foes were spawning in, around us this time.

"Listen up!" I shouted to the army players ahead of us, "If we form a circle, and watch each other's backs, we will be able to do this easily." My efforts, however, were fruitless, the man leading them refused to comply.

"We won't be able to cover enough ground with three people," Kleff said, raising his dagger in a back handed stance. But then as if on cue, one of the soldiers rolled past the undead and joined the circle formation we were in.

"Room for one more?" The man asked raising his war axe and buckler, or at least I thought he was a man, his voice was somewhat feminine.

"Of course but," I looked over and saw one of the creatures dig it's enormous claw into one soldier who died, and another one get shredded from all sides by four more monsters; it wouldn't be long before the other three perished as well.

"There's no saving them now," the man said lifting his shield, and readying his axe, "damn fools would rather die, are you ready?" I was rushed on the right side by one; I ducked under its giant claw, and ran it through with my blade, killing it. Another came from my left, I bashed its meat hook of a hand away with my shield arm, and carved an X shaped wound into its chest. My blade turned blue as I activated my sword skill, and put not only the blade, but my entire hand through the enemy until it was destroyed. _This is going to take a while…_

"So… who are you?" I asked the strange army man we saved in the dungeon. We had fought our way slowly through almost two dozen "undead blade bones". We immediately left the dungeon and headed for the floors main town. Kirito had gone to get some rest, and Kleff and I had sat down to eat with the mystery man we had rescued from the dungeon floor.

"I'm with the liberation Army," the man said, taking a bite of some bread._ Is it just me or does he sound more, and more like a girl every time he talks_.

"We know that," Kleff blurted quite rudely, "we meant more along the lines of your name."

"My name is Skye," He said, taking a sip of water, "and yes I'm a girl." Kleff nearly did a spit take with the tea he was drinking.

"A girl that can fight like that!? As if, let's see you without the helmet then, miss," Kleff said, I kicked him under the table for being such a jerk, "Owww! I was just saying."

"No its fine," The girl assured me. She removed her helmet to reveal, medium length hair that was dark at its roots but blond on the tips. She had blue-ish grey-ish eyes and almost pale looking white skin. "Believe me now?" she asked with a sassy tone, Kleff was speechless.

"S-so that was totally a joke before," Kleff started scratching his head, "I most certainly see women as my equal in every way, you just have a…"

"Brutal fighting style," Skye had finished Kleff's sentence for him.

"Yeah that's it," Kleff said nervously. Skye seemed to take it as a compliment rather than an insult. It was true; Skye did have a lot of brute strength, especially for a girl of her stature. Skye was a head shorter than me, making her tad bit smaller, If not the same height as Kleff, though she didn't look menacing, her combat style would put some of the more well-known generals in the army to shame.

"So," Skye said examining the tavern, "where's the other guy that was with you?"

"Oh Kirito, He went to get some rest," I replied, "he's not in our party anymore, he was only helping us with the dungeon this time, he's not a permanent member of our team."

"So where's the rest of your team then?" She asked cocking an eyebrow at me

"You're lookin' at em'" Kleff said, she must have found it funny, because she was failing a suppressing a laugh, and soon lost it. "Hey what's so funny?" Kleff asked trying to use an intimidating tone.

"Come on a two person party?" she asked rhetorically, "that's barely any better, you guys won't survive very long once the floor numbers hit the double digits."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," I muttered, "But for now, I'd like to know, what were you army troops doing in the dungeons, why offer a reward for the dungeon map, if you were going to just clear it yourselves anyway?" I asked curiously

"Probably up to no good I suppose," Kleff added.

"We were sent to clear the dungeon so we could have a team attack the boss, and take control over floor 6 before anyone else got a chance to go there," Skye sincerely answered. I believed her, mostly because it sounded like something the army would do, because their leader was a power hungry fool who had no regard for human life. He believed that because there was no "solid proof" that if you died In the game you die in real life he could just send men to do dangerous tasks, and throw away their lives for no good reason.

"So as usual, it's all about control," I said gritting my teeth.

"Like I said, no good," Kleff added.

"Well," Skye started before taking a gulp of her water, "Looks like ill just be rolling with you guys then."

"And why would think that?" Kleff asked with a huff.

"Way I see it is now I'm a deserter," Skye sighed as she drew her army issue axe and examined it, "I've got nowhere else to go, and I'm sure you could use my strength when clearing the dungeons."

"I dunno," Kleff said wearily, "How do we know you aren't just spying on us so the military can get rid of us?"

"I guess you don't," Skye admitted, "But would I really do that to the guys who saved my sorry ass back at that dungeon?"

"I don't know, WOULD you?" Kleff asked with emphasis on the word 'would' as he rose slightly from his seat. I tapped his shoulder, he looked at me as I shook my head at him, and he took a seat once again and I looked at Skye.

"We would be glad to have you accompany us from now on" I said as I sent her a party invite, and at the same time she sent me and Kleff friend requests. She accepted and I saw her name and HP bar appear on the left of my screen under Kleff's. We accepted her friend request and continued to eat our meals.

We were undisturbed for about half an hour, as Skye told us about normal life as a Liberation Army member, and she proved our prejudices that most Army soldiers were assholes, especially to the female players. She had gone into telling a story about a dungeon raid that she'd been a part of on floor 3 when a player entering the tavern caught my eye. He was a bit taller than me and was wearing a cloak that hid his armor and his face; he scanned the room as if looking for something, until his gaze fell upon me, he starred at me for a few moments as I looked away and tried to act like I hadn't noticed. My focus on his was interrupted by Kleff laughing, and Skye bursting into near tear like laughter.

I suppose what was said was extremely funny because Skye took noticed how unshaken I was and asked, "Oh come on, that was comedy gold; how are you not rolling on the floor trying not to suffocate from laughing?"

Sorry I just saw a- I was cut off by a hushed voice behind me, "Excuse me, are you the Blue Sentinel?" the player asked, Even though I was unable to see past the cloak, and I had already mistaken one person's gender today, the voice was a dead giveaway that its owner was a girl.

"The names Arun, not the 'Blue sentinel'," I said a bit agitated, "the Blue Sentinel" was a name given to me on floor 2 when I nearly sliced the floor boss in half when I got the final blow, and since my armor was Blue, I guess people though Blue Sentinel was a fitting nickname for me.

"My apologies Arun," the girl apologized; she took a moment to look at my party members before returning her gaze to me, "If it is alright with you, I'd like to speak with you privately." She jerked her head gesturing to a table a table in the back of the tavern.

I glanced at my new team mates for approval, Kleff just said he didn't care, and Skye just shrugged her shoulder. "Thanks for the helpful insight," I muttered, "Sure we can talk for a few minutes if you want to." I got up from my table and followed the girl to the table taking only my tea with me. "So, what is it you need to speak with me about that you can't say while my teammates are present?" I asked cautiously as the girl took a seat across from me.

"I am from a new guild that has been formed very recently," the hooded girl started in a formal sounding tone, almost like she had practiced it, "We are very small as of now, and we are looking for strong players to join us." Just then we were interrupted by one of the barmaid NPCs asking the girl if she'd like to order. The girl quickly shooed off the AI and continued what she had to say, "Our guild master has personally requested that I follow you and see how well you perform in combat." I cocked an eyebrow at the mention of her following me.

"You've been following me?" I asked a little creped out.

"Yes, and I saw l all that I needed to in the dungeon today," she said. This statement made me angry, because if she was there then she could have helped us, and maybe we could have saved some more of the soldiers; but she decided to watch as my friends and I fought for our lives.

"You saw what happened and yet you didn't help?" I asked with a more hostile tone of voice; I leaned forward into my chair trying to look her in her eyes that I just could not see.

"If I, or another player or party had entered that event before it was finished," she started in an 'as a matter of fact' tone, "Twelve more would have spawned in, and we all may very well be dead right now." I didn't like the idea of watching someone fight with their life on the line, but she made a valid point. "Either way, you handle yourself well, so I want to offer you an invitation to the Knights of the Blood Oath guild," the girl had concluded. I thought it over for a few moments. _Maybe it is time to join a guild, so long as it's not like the army, _I thought to myself

"Tell me," I said crossing my arms and leaning back into my chair, "What is your guild all about?"

"We will be a floor clearing guild like the army," she said, I cocked my eyebrow and she must have gotten the hint because she corrected herself, "Except without the dictatorship, and the senseless soldier sacrifices."

"And will they be allowed to join?" I said gesturing to my teammates who were conversing with each other in my absence.

"Sadly no, I can only offer you the position," the girl said with a sigh, "I cannot offer for the girl because she is already associated with the army; and the boy because his fighting skills are less than to be expected, in a head to head fight."

"Well then I can already say that the answer is no," I said as I started to rise.

"Wait," the girl started to plea, "Think about this, our guild master is stronger than you could ever imagine, this guild is going to go places whether you can see it or not,"

"I don't care," I said bluntly, "I will not abandon my team to join any guild."

"Just consider it, you can only go so far as a three person team," she continued to try to convince me to leave behind my friends; granted I didn't know Skye very well, but nothing says 'I want to get to know you and be your friend' like leaving them behind to join some guild. "Please just take time to weigh your options first." "If you get in, then I'm sure after a short while you can convince Heathcliff to let them join as well," she said, making me raise an eyebrow in question, "Heathcliff is our guild master's name." she answered my unasked question. I thought it over again, and I decided not to decide yet.

"I will have to speak with my teammates first, see what they have to say about this," I said sincerely, "But… Who are you exactly? And why can't I see your name or HP bar?" Those questions had been eating away at me for a bit.

"I have the 'cloak of identity' on, so you can't see my name, HP bar, armor, or weapons," she started, which explains why she wore it, "And we've already met in the past, we were in a party on floor one with two others." She took off the hood allowing her long orange hair fall freely over her person and said, "My name is Asuna."

The next morning came quick enough; I had decided not to talk to my party about the invitation to join a guild I got yet, since we all had a bit of a long and tiring day, and I'm sure they didn't want to discuss it then. We all paid for separate rooms in the inn, and I wasn't sure if they had woken up yet, but if they were up they would be downstairs at the tavern, eating and waiting for me. I went down to see and saw my partners at a table near the front; Kleff was eating while Skye was across from him closely examining a piece of paper.

"The reward is nice, but it seems a bit risky." I heard Skye comment still looking at the paper.

"What is?" I asked as I took a seat next to Kleff. Skye handed me the paper she was reading, on it was a picture of a girl with medium length red hair that covered her right eye. "30,000 Col reward for anyone who captures or kill this criminal player, Rosalia," I read off the paper, "Payment will also include the cost for an imprisonment crystal, however only if one is used in her capture."

"30,000 Col, just to capture some girl," Kleff said as tilted his head and looked at me

"Well if whoever put this out can't capture her, then that means she's dangerous," I replied, Kleff huffed as if he hand expected me to say that.

"Dude it's just one girl, and with that reward we have to try," he pleaded, he wasn't wrong; the bounty had a very temping amount set to it. I looked at Skye who just shrugged her shoulders.

"I think with our strength we could take her," Skye started before taking a bite of bread, "But that's your call." Skye said before she got back to eating. I weighed our options, if we went back to dungeon clearing there was no guarantee that we would be the first to clear the map and get the 15,000 col. If she did have backup, Skye and I are more than capable of fighting them off, and despite the truth behind what Asuna said yesterday, Kleff can fight, he just prefers to have an advantage when doing it.

"Alright, but how do we even find her?" I asked. Kleff had opened his menu, and then scrolled to his friend list to show me; about ten names down was Rosalina's.

"Okay, so you can track her, but why do you have a criminal on your friends list?" I asked raising an eyebrow to my friend.

"She and I have been trading goods since floor three," Kleff said.

"You've been selling to a criminal player?" I asked quiet enough so no one else in the tavern could hear us.

"Hey, I didn't know she was a criminal," Kleff replied defensively. I just looked at him for a second and then sighed.

"Whatever, so where is she?" I asked. Kleff tapped on her name to open a map with a dot blinking green dot on it.

"She's in a mini dungeon at the edge of this floor," Kleff said as he examined the position on the map, "strange, this dungeon isn't appearing on my map, I see where the entrance should be, but with all the connections I have, I'm surprised there's no info on this dungeon."

"They probably set up shop in the boss room," Skye added. This was a possibility, when someone kills the boss of a mini dungeon; no more monsters will ever spawn in the room again, and a one way teleport station will appear in the room allowing one to teleport to the closest NPC town. Mini dungeons boss rooms are a popular choice for large groups of players to get a big free home, but it's a dangerous choice since there's no safe zone, and you are vulnerable to an attack from another group of players looking for a hideout.

"Well, let's get going then," I said standing up from the table, Kleff and Skye followed soon after.

The trip to the mini dungeon was uneventful, and we were already most of the way through the dungeon itself. The entire place was looted clean by Rosalia group no doubt. The dungeon was themed like a catacomb, with long halls with coffins lining the walls, and all the enemies were just weak skeletons with different weapons that we cut down without any trouble. We kept moving through the dungeon going in the general direction of Rosalia's signal, and we came up to the boss room's door soon.

"Okay so what's the plan now?" asked Skye as she drew he axe and stood by the door.

"Easy Skye, me and you go in," I started as I drew my own weapon from its scabbard and stood at the opposite end of the door, "We will try to see if we can get her to go quietly."

"I doubt that'll happen," Kleff muttered, but I ignored him.

"Kleff Do you're thing and try to sneak around so if she doesn't cooperate you can catch her by surprise," I said looking at Skye for approval, she nodded her head, and Kleff did the same when I glanced at him. "Let's go," I said as I opened the large door. The boss room just as large as any other boss room, it was like a large corridor with 6 enormous skeleton statues on each side facing each the other on the opposite side, to give you a good idea of how big the statues were, they were raising swords over their heads as if they were ready to slash down on someone, and their swords were at least twice as big as me. At the opposite end of the room was large open tomb, most likely where the boss appeared from. In the middle of the room was a campfire surrounded by players and tent with bedrolls. The many players stood up got up and drew their weapons as they ran toward us; and out of the corner of my eye I saw Kleff sneak around the right set of statues.

"Who the hell are you?" One of strangers asked pointing his sword out at us. There were 13 of them on us, but I couldn't see Rosalia in the small crowd.

Before I could answer Skye piped up, "The liberation army has come for the one called Rosalia, and we've brought the blue sentinel with us." The man looked like he was about to shout something back before I saw a hand on his shoulder.

"Please, allow me," Rosalia said as she emerged from behind the man. She had a sleeveless leather dress like armor on, and in her right hand she held a thin steel lance. "Look," she started amusement dripping from her voice reinforced by the fact that she was half laughing as she spoke, "You don't need to die today, you can just drop your inventory items and leave now, or you could fight us, and die."

I was about to retort but Skye beat me to the response again, "Or we could fight you and kill all of you."

"I see you've chosen the second option," at this her men started to inch closer and closer to us, "Shame, boys, handle th-," Rosalia was cut off by a knife appearing at her throat. Kleff was standing behind her with his dagger at her throat, her men turned her way and 4 of them went up to aid her.

"Not a step closer!" Kleff shouted as he pressed the dagger up on her throat just below her jugular. The men stopped dead in their tracks.

Rosalia smiled for a moment before giving her next command, "Roy, if you please." She looked at a black haired man with a goatee who was standing near the statue to her left. The man pulled a lever on the statue he was next to, making the sword it was holding drop as if the statue was attacking something. Rosalia took advantage Kleff's bewildered state to elbow him in his side, turn and push him back, he fell just under the shadow of the statues blade. just a split second later the blade met with Kleff's head, and in an instant his HP dropped to zero and his avatar was deleted. A message popped up on my screen saying "Party member: Kleff, deceased."

**AN: First off, R.I.P. Kleff. Second, do you want to have a character of your down design appear in this story SAO Rebooted, well then I will give you the chance to send me a PM containing the following to have a chance for that character to appear in the story.**

**But first, lemme give u a bit of info on the characters position (warning spoilers). Arun accepts Asuna's invitation and joins the Knights of the Blood Oath. He quickly climbs the ranks of the guild and is appointed an officers position where he is given command of 5 players. 4 of those 5 players will be fan made OCs, (unless I don't get enough entries). I will be accepting entries until Saturday May 31st. (cuz then I gotta start writing)**

**Now here is the info about your OC your PM must contain**

**Name,**

**Username,**

**Gender,**

**Age,**

**Appearance, (hair, body type, ect.)**

**Personality,**

**Preferred weapon,**

**Brief backstory, (at least a few sentences, but don't make me read an essay about your OC's life story)**

**How they see Arun, (friend, enemy, frienemy, love interest, commander (strictly professional), ect.)**

**How they see Aincrad, (This is so I can get deeper understanding of the character by understanding how they see the world they are being forced to live in)**

**I cant guarantee that your OC will be used, however I do appreciate all entries. Remember that all entries are due no later than 5/31/14.**

**GOOD LUCK! **


	3. Chapter 3

For a short time, I went utterly mad. I temporarily lost my grip on my sanity. I felt only pain, pain and anger; I felt it consume me, and I couldn't do anything to stop it, mainly because I didn't want to stop it. I used the momentary distraction of Kleff's horrible fate to stab one of the players from behind. His avatar disappeared right in front of me. I had killed him, and I couldn't have cared less at the time.

The other criminals started to rush me, trying to surround me. I lashed out wildly in all directions, with speed I never thought I had. I was landing some small hits but they didn't do much damage to my attackers. The constant melee never ceased, as soon as I had forced one back another two rushed me. They were landing some small hits on me too, and I soon had my HP cut down to about half as the health bar changed from green to yellow. I risked taking a look at Skye and saw she was having similar difficulty with the 6 that had surrounded her. Her HP was slightly lower than mine. I glanced over my shoulder as I heard heavy footsteps behind me. I saw him, the man who set off the trap that ended Kleff; he was raising his axe horizontally just high enough to behead me. I waited for him to start his swinging motion before I dropped to my knee; He never stopped running forward and he tripped over my body as I swung up at him. In seemingly slow motion, I watched as the force of his fall combined with that of my swing made the blade slide across his mid body like a warn knife through butter. His death animation played and I jumped back to my feet. I only then realized just how tired I was, it was a hassle just to lift my blade, I needed a breather, but I knew I would not get one. I looked ahead and saw another man dash at me his squared mace held high I was too winded to defend; I sheathed my blade and close my eyes, ready to accept my fate.

"Catch!" I heard Skye shout from my left. My eyes flew open as I turned my head to see a small blue object flying towards me. With only a second to react I caught it in my right hand; it was a blue square shaped teleport crystal. It was emitting a bright white light from it. My eyes widened as I realized it was already activated. The last thing I saw before I was teleported back to town was Skye smiling at me as a sword blade emerged from her chest, and her HP dropped to 0, the smile never wavering from her face. The rest of her death animation was cut off by the blue light from the teleport crystal surrounding me, and a message saying, "Party Member: Skye, deceased". The next moment I was standing in the teleport station of town.

I panicked and frantically swiped my hand down to open up my menu; I opened up my friend list and began to scroll through it. The only name that appeared under 'K' was Kirito, and there were no 'S' names. It was like they never existed, it was like a nightmare… then I woke up.

* * *

I gasped as I fell forward on the bench I had been snoozing on and face planted on the stone brick walkway. I quickly picked myself up and threw myself back onto the wooden bench my white, steel plated armor digging slightly into my back as I made impact with the wood. My mind instantly went to where I was, and why I was here. _Oh right, _I thought to myself as I relaxed a bit,_ Heathcliff wants me and my team to clear a mini dungeon on floor 37, and now I'm just waiting for them to show up. _

"Lazy freakin' team. Not even here yet," I said agitatedly.

"Hey I'm not lazy," I heard from behind me making me jump a bit. I glanced over and saw Kioto leaning over the bench at the opposite end of me. Kioto was the team's tracker, his tracking skill was maxed out, and he could find just about anyone, or anything. He had medium length black hair and green eyes. He for some reason reminded me of a cat. He let out a sigh as he fiddled with his guild issue gauntlets. Almost all of the K.O.B armor was white with red trim. He had standard medium armor, which was composed of a long sleeved shirt, with a steel chest piece covering his upper body; there were steel plates protecting his shoulders and elbows. His knees, and legs below them were covered by steal plate greaves; and the whole armor set was topped off with a cape that covered his back down to just above his ankles, that draped over his side concealing his arms too. Emerging from the top of his cape was the hilt of his two-handed longsword.

"Tell me again. Why do we have to wear this?" He asked as he tried to fix the collar of his shirt that covered his throat.

"So we all look professional," I said as I looked down at my own armor. It was similar, but because of my higher position I was able to get a custom chest piece that matched my blue slime armor, just white, and no longer transparent. It even came with the shield arm that I was so fond of. Kioto sighed, I don't think he liked my answer, but he accepted it. "So are you the only one who's shown up?"

"No," Kioto responded, "Asuka, Ren, and I got here around 9. They went to stock up on crystals, while I'm stuck here making sure no PKers interrupt your sleep."

"That just leaves Lena and Yoshiki," I said as I looked over at the teleport station not far from where we currently were, "What the hell are they doing that's so important." I bit my lip nervously as I opened my friend list and started to scroll. I let out a sigh of relief when I say that both of their names were still there.

"Probably something that requires the ethics code turned off." Kioto remarked, lightly elbowing me twice in the right arm. I just chuckled at his indecent joke; that's definitely something Kioto was good at, making people laugh.

"Oh come on we shouldn't say stuff like that behind their backs," I said, still chuckling.

Kioto grinned, "Yeah your right… especially because she's got a thing for you twice as big as she's got for Yoshiki" He said half-jokingly. This caught me off guard and my face tuned to a shade of light red.

"sh- shut up Kioto. She's just a friend if anything," I said a tad bit flustered

"Well look who's awake," I heard Ren's naturally rough voice from my left. I saw him and Asuka walking next to each other they approached. Ren was around 6'4 with light brown hair that was spiked up like a fohawk. He wore guild issue medium armor just like Kioto's, Emerging from his back was the wooden shaft of the large two bladed battle axe he was fond of using. Asuka, who was walking beside him, was around 6 feet tall and had soft light blue eyes, and long whitish red ponytail that dropped freely to her waist. She was wearing guild issue light armor, which for female member was made up of a white sleeveless top, red skirt, white boots, and white whole-armed sleeves. Under her top was a steel breast plate, or so I've been told. _God help the poor soul who decides to check._ At the left side of her hip was an ornate, black and gold scabbard that held her katana. The weapons handle was black and gold as well to match its sheath.

"Yeah, yeah, I know it's unbecoming of a commander to doze of like that," I said with an apologetic sigh.

"We're just surprised that you sleep at all," Kioto said, taking a seat next to me and started to relax.

"Whatever…" I muttered, Asuka and Ren were now right with us.

"You do tend to push yourself," Asuka said as she pulled a brown bag out and opened it.

"Those the crystals?" I asked as I rose to my feet and began to stretch my arms out.

"Yeah we made sure we only bought what we would need," she said as she reached into the bag and pulled out two red crystals, "Here two of those." She gave me the red crystals, a blue teleport crystal, two green cure crystals, and one yellow stamina crystal. She gave the same amount of crystals to Kioto and Ren before taking some for herself. "Are Yoshiki and Lena not here yet?" Asuka asked as she looked around for the currently absent players.

"Nope." I said as I opened the menu to check the time. It was currently 11'oclock am and they were supposed to be here at 9. "I'm going to send them a me-"I started before my train of thought was interrupted by the distance sound of players materializing. I turned my gaze at the teleport station in hopes that I would see the two we were expecting. I saw a boy and a girl teleport in, it was Yoshiki and Lena, but something seeming amiss. Yoshiki saw me and pointed at us before the two ran toward us for dear life. 4 more players with green army armor materialized behind them and gave chase to them.

"What's going on!?" I shouted once they had reached us. They looked totally winded, and I assumed they had been chased for a while now.

"We ran into a bit of trouble," Yoshiki spoke up. He was in guild issue light armor which for men was a white high-collar shirt, light grey pant, white boots, and a white coat, all with red trim except for the pants. He had a mop of dark blue hair, and hazel eyes. Lena had on light armor identical to Asuka's. She had sun-kissed blond hair that only dropped down a bit past her shoulders when loose, but she always had it in a French braid that she let fall over her left shoulder, and bright blue eyes to go with the hair.

"We may or may not have tried to force one of their soldiers into giving us map info about the front line floor's dungeon…" Lena said as she ran behind me and grabbed my right arm, "I'm sure you can get them to leave. Right?" she asked gripping my arm nervously.

"I swear the crap you guys get me into," I muttered as I walked forward and pulled my arm away from her. I met the 4 army troops who already had their axes drawn. "Look, I understand what my friends here did wasn't too cool. But I think I can handle their punishment, so why don't you just leave this to me," I said as they approached me.

"Oh no," the one who was in front of the other three said, "This is between us and those two. Don't worry, it's a safe zone, they can't die."

"Which is exactly why I won't feel bad about what I'll do to you if you take another step closer," I threated as I reached to my back, my hand finding its way to the hilt of my guild sword. My sword was a thin and long silver blade, with a red and white cross as its hilt and pommel.

"Why you little!" The man shouted as her ran toward me axe raised above his head. He brought his axe down and was met by my shield arm. I didn't even draw my sword, I simply knocked the blade away and back handed the man, the metal of my arm smashing into the side of his face full force. He stumbled back before landing on his ass shocked by the impact of the blow.

"Nice hit captn'" I heard Ren cheer from behind me.

"Yeah nice bitch slap," Kioto praised.

Without warning the 3 other men rushed me. Kioto, Ren, and Asuka joined me, and they each took a man of their own. Ren, who was all the way to the left of the fight, took a wide horizontal swing and sent a soldier flying. Asuka, who was next to me on the left, didn't even have to use her blade, she just ducked under an axe swing, and struck the soldiers nose with her swords hilt. The man retreated holing his most likely broken nose. Kioto, on my right lunged at the soldier and sent him flying with one stab from the side.

My attention was turned to the man I preciously smacked to the floor, who was now charging in for more. He brought his axe down horizontally right, to left, making it easy for me to catch it with my arm again. This time I tightened my right hand into a fist and landed an uppercut, sending him stumbling back. I gave him no chance to retaliate and kicked him to the ground.

I knelt down and picked the soldier up by his metal chest piece, "I want you to remember this the next time you decide to screw with one of us," I said menacingly, He looked up at me with fear in his eyes, "You mess with one of us… you invoke the wrath of all of us." I let go of his armor and he fell back to the floor with a loud thump. I watched as the men got up and ran to the teleport station. I had turned around to see my fellow guild member staring at me with wide eyes, and in Lena's case, a gaping mouth.

"Come on we are going to the dungeon now." I said as I passed by my bewildered teammates who had until now, never saw me act so ruthless. "You'll catch flies like that," I remarked chuckling as I passed by Lena, taping the bottom of her chin.

* * *

We had cleared the dungeon with no difficulty; we didn't even use any crystals. The dungeon was themed like, well, a dungeon. There were many large rooms with Prison cells, and torture machines and the like, and enemies varied from the undead, to giant spiders, hell we even fought what looked like a giant troll in one room. We were about halfway out of the dungeon when Ren came up next to me. "Hey. Is it me or is something up with Asuka?" he asked me in a whisper gesturing with a jerk of his head to the girl who was walking alone a considerable distance behind the rest of the group.

"Uhhh… I'm not sure. Why is she all the way back there?" I asked.

"Not sure," he whispered scratching his chin, "maybe you should go talk to her."

"What? Why me?" I asked

"Because I'm only good dealing with people, if I can deal with them with my axe. Now go." He said shoving me back a bit. _I swear these guys forget who's in charge here from time to time, _I thought to myself as I took a deep sigh. I slowed down a bit until I was next to Asuka who looking at the ground and didn't seem to notice me.

"Hey Asuka. Are you alright," I said, I must have startled her because she jumped a bit.

"Oh… hey, yeah I'm fine. Why?" she asked

"You seemed a bit lonely walking behind everyone, why don't you join the rest of the group?" I asked softly.

"I just prefer to be alone," she replied hastily, too quickly for me to believe that was all.

"If that's why, I guess I can't make you join us," I said, putting on a reassuring smile, "But just remember we're you're friends, so you don't have to exclude yourself like this if you don't want to."

"Th-thanks, I'll be fine," She said smiling back, before looking back at the ground. I started to walk back to the rest of the team, but I could have sworn I heard her quietly repeat the word 'friend' as I got almost out of earshot.

* * *

After we had gotten to town Kioto suggested we all celebrate clearing the dungeon at a tavern, naturally everyone was in, except for Asuka who slipped away when we weren't looking. I was sitting alone while the others were at the bar having a good time. I was sipping on some tea when Lena took a seat across from me.

"Hey," she said with a goofy smile, as she took a seat. The light from the torches and candles seemed to dance off of her skin as she moved. I only saw her as a comrade and a friend, but I have to admit, she was quiet easy on the eyes.

"Hi," I said with a chuckle seeing her dumb looking smile. There was an awkward silence between us before Lena broke it.

"Is everything alright?" she asked with a pout.

"Yeah… just kinda got some bad déjà vu is all," The scene of the tavern reminded me painfully of the night before Kleff and Skye died. Just like that night, everyone was having a good time, enjoying life; Even though all that could chance the next day.

"Sorry to hear that," she said getting up from her seat. "Come on," she said grabbing my hand and yanking me out of the seat, "You need to have some fun for once." She all but dragged me to the group of my partying team mates by my hand.

"Hey! Look who's finally decided to join us," Ren greeted me as we neared the group.

"We were just reminiscing about the past," Yoshiki said offering me a mug of what smelled to be some kind of alcohol, "Hey tell us the story about the time you caught Kioto snooping around the girl's bath." Everyone but Kioto seemed to be laughing in agreement.

"It was my first day and I got lost…" Kioto said bluntly. A small smile broke out on my face and I decided to join in on the fun.

"It's okay Kioto," I said chuckling as I put a hand on his shoulder, "Afterwards I'll tell you guys the story about the time Yoshiki was caught doing the same thing. However, I remember it being a bit funnier."

"Yeah something about getting the crap kicked outta him by our miss second in command," Ren Said ready to double over laughing. Yoshiki and Kioto exchanged facial expressions, but in the end we all started to laugh.

* * *

I walked through the large white corridors of the guilds headquarters in Granzam. It was the day after my mission on floor 37 and I was supposed to turn in any and all loot to the guild, which I had already done. I was also to report to the guild master, Heathcliff. I turned a corner and was nearing the council room when I heard a familiar voice greeting me from behind.

"Hey!" I turned and saw Asuna walking briskly up to me, "You're here so I assume your mission went well," she said as we shared a friendly hug. When I joined the guild she showed me the ropes, and ever since we stayed friends. We would only really converse about our missions, and we only ever talked when we weren't working, so it was rare that we talked. When we did talk, however, it was nice; she was the one of the very few people I felt comfortable just talking with, about anything.

"Yeah, I was just about to report to Heathcliff," I said turning my head to gesture to the council room at the end of the hall.

"Really?" she asked raising an eyebrow and frowning slightly, "Because I heard you got into a fight with some of the army."

"Well…" I started.

"Arun! We're supposed to be allies with the army," she scolded me; "I know you don't like them, and I don't like them either, but in the end we are all fighting to get out."

"Yes but-," I got out before she cut me off.

"But nothing. You were there on floor 25. You know what happens when everyone's not on the same page." The grim truth of her statement hit hard, I just grunted and nodded my head in agreement.

"I have to go and make my report now," I said hoping she would allow me to leave.

"Fine but don't think this conversation is over," she said turning on her heels and walking the away. _She's a bit of a strange one…_ I thought to myself with a chuckle.

I opened the door to the council room and entered. It was a large bland empty room with no color, and almost no furnishings. In the middle of the room was a large U shaped table with five seats, one in the middle, and two on either side. The only person waiting for me was Heathcliff who sat in the middle seat. He was an older looking man, who hand longer silver hair that he had tied back, except for a few strands he let fall in front of his face. He was in his usual Red battle armor that only he as the guild master wore.

"Ah, Arun. I wasn't expecting you until a bit later," He said as he leaned forward in his chair letting his arms rest on the table.

"I figured it would be best to come in a bit early, I was told you weren't seeing anyone now so," I said placing my arms behind my back standing at full attention.

"Its fine," Heathcliff said relaxing himself a bit, "So you cleared the dungeon. Did you turn in your findings?"

"Yes sir," I replied, never moving a muscle that wasn't on my face.

"And did you take my advice and make sure you landed the final hit on the boss," He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes sir and I noticed yesterday when I was checking my skills that I acquired a new one."

"Hmm? And what might that be," he asked with what I could swear was a faint smile on his face. I walked towards his, opened my skills menu, and showed him the screen. "Hybrid wielding?" He said questioningly.

"Yes sir, apparently I can use hybrid weapons now, but I don't know anyone who can make such weapons," I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Well," Heathcliff started as he leaned back and once again relaxed in his chair, "I have heard some rumor about a certain blacksmith that has a hybrid crafting skill… If you're interested."

"I am," I said cautiously. This whole thing seemed planned to me, the mission, being told to get the final blow, his convenient knowledge of a blacksmith who can craft such weapons. He did not respond, not until I got a message from his with a map location on it.

"Why don't you take a few days off to figure out this new skill of yours," He said with a smile.

"Th-thank you sir," I replied looking back at the map location, and then closing my menu.

"You are dismissed," he said; and with that I left. _Okay, I'm looking for a blacksmith player called 'Lisbeth'._

**AN: There you have it, chapter 3. It's a bit slow, but I tried to throw in a bit of action in there too. This chapter was mostly to introduce our 5 new main characters. Yoshiki is the only one I created, Ren, Asuka, Kioto, and Lena are all character made by fans. I tried to write this chapter quickly because I]the next time you see any "SAO Rebooted" will probably be in 2 to 3 weeks, mostly because I will be very busy with my own personal stuff. I am sincerely sorry that you guys will have to wait that long, but to make it up, I plan on making chapter 4 twice as long as my regular 4k to 5k chapters I've been posting. So till next time, cya :3**


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